Friday, August 31, 2007

Super-productive Friday PSA

I don't know why I was stressing about that pre-proposal; I submitted it two hours early. It turns out that I ran out of pages before I ran out time (or things to talk about), and since it was a preproposal I didn't spend a huge amount of time revising.

But it's in the name of sharing some opportunities that have come across my e-mail lately.

1st:

On August 15, 2007, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation made online applications available for its American Fellowships program, which offers three types of awards: Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowships, Dissertation Fellowships, and Summer/Short-Term Research Publication Grants. The awards will support research conducted during the 2008-2009 academic year.Applications are due November 15, 2007.

The AAUW Educational Foundation is “one of the world's largest sources of funding exclusively for graduate women, [supporting] aspiring scholars around the globe, teachers and activists in local communities, women at critical stages of their careers, and those pursuing professions where women are underrepresented.” The foundation is a corporation of AAUW, which “has always prided itself on supporting the advancements of women in higher education.” Over the last 126 years, AAUW has grown to over 100,000 members, 1,000 branches, and 500 college and university partners.

All American Fellowship applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Applicants cannot apply for more than one American Fellowship and cannot be AAUW members. Specific criteria for each American Fellowships award is as follows:

Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowships are for women who will have attained a doctoral degree by November 15, 2007. Several $30,000 awards are available for women in the arts/humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. One award is designated for a woman in an underrepresented group with a doctoral degree in any field.

Dissertation Fellowships are for women who will finish writing their dissertation between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009. Several $20,000 awards are available to women in all majors except engineering. Applicants must have completed all course work, passed all preliminary examinations, and received approval for their research by November 15, 2007.

Summer/Short-Term Research Publication Grants are for college and university faculty and independent researchers to prepare for publication. Approximately six, $6,000 awards are available for women in any major. Applicants must be available for eight consecutive weeks of final writing, editing, and responding to issues raised in critical reviews. Applicants must have received their doctoral degree by November 15, 2007.

In addition to the American Fellowships program, the AAUW Educational Foundation administers other programs for women researchers:

Career Development Grants support women who hold a bachelor's degree and are preparing to advance their careers, change careers, or re-enter the workforce. Special consideration is given to AAUW members, women of color, and women pursuing their first advanced degree or credentials in nontraditional fields. Funds are not available for doctoral-level work. The award range is $2,000 to $12,000. Applications are due December 15, 2007.

Community Action Grants offer one-year grants ($2,000 to $7,000), which provide seed money for new projects, and two-year grants ($5,000 to $10,000 total), which provide start-up funds for longer-term programs that address the particular needs of the community and develop girls' sense of efficacy. For both programs, topic areas are unrestricted, but should include a clearly defined activity that promotes education and equity for women and girls. Applicants must be women who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Applications are due January 15, 2008.

International Fellowships are awarded for full-time study or research to women who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Graduate and postgraduate study at accredited institutions is supported. Several awards will be made for Master's/Professional Fellowships ($18,000), Doctorate Fellowships ($20,000), and Postdoctoral Fellowships ($30,000). Fellowship recipients may study in any country other than their own. Applications are due December 1, 2007.

Selected Professions Fellowships are awarded to women who intend to pursue a full-time course of study at accredited institutions during the fellowship year in one of the designated degree programs in which women's participation traditionally has been low: Architecture (M.Arch, M.S.Arch); Computer/Information Sciences (M.S.); Engineering (M.E., M.S., Ph.D.); and Mathematics/Statistics (M.S.). Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. In addition, fellowships in the following degree programs are restricted to women of color who have been underrepresented in these fields: Business Administration (M.B.A., E.M.B.A.); Law (J.D.); and Medicine (M.D., D.O.). The award range is $5,000 to $12,000. Applications are due January 10, 2008. Engineering Dissertation awards ($20,000) are also available and due December 15, 2007.

NEW YORK, NY, August 20, 2007 – L’Oréal USA announced today the start of the application period for its esteemed L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science program. Now in its fifth year, this national program aims to annually recognize, reward and support five women postdoctoral researchers in the U.S. who are pursuing careers in the life and physical/material sciences, as well as mathematics, engineering and computer science. As part of its commitment to further help women scientists achieve their goals, L’Oréal USA awards each recipient $40,000 to apply toward their postdoctoral research.

Since its inception in 2003, the L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science program has awarded 20 fellowships to women scientists across the U.S. Each year, the program has attracted a number of talented applicants from diverse scientific fields, representing some of the nation’s leading academic institutions and laboratories. A distinguished jury of nine eminent scientists – presided over by Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone, President, National Academy of Sciences - reviews the applications, and selects the L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science recipients.

The five beneficiaries of the 2008 L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science will be invited to attend a week of events in New York City that include an awards ceremony, professional development workshops, media training and networking opportunities. In 2008 these workshops, which are facilitated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), will encompass job search techniques, interviewing skills, budget development for grant requests and strategies for peer reviewed publication.

The L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science program is open to women postdoctoral researchers only. Candidates interested in applying may visit the L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science web site athttp://www.lorealusa.com/forwomeninscience, to obtain more information about program eligibility and requirements.All applications must be post marked by October 31, 2007.

The L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science complement the international L’ORÉAL-UNESCO For Women in Science program -- which annually awards $100,000 each to five leading women career scientists, one each from Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Africa – and the UNESCO-L’ORÉAL International Fellowships, which annually grant, over a two year period, $40,000 each to 15 promising young women scientists, at doctoral or postdoctoral level, from around the globe.

-- more --

The L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science program, and its aim to advance the careers of women postdoctoral researchers in the U.S., is especially relevant in light of America’s waning competitiveness in the global marketplace. There is an urgent need to increase both the funding for basic science research in the U.S., and also the number of students, particularly girls and young women, majoring in science, mathematics and engineering.

Earlier this year, L’Oréal USA commissioned a national survey of adults and teens across the United States to determine perceptions of science in America. According to the findings, while 84% of adults surveyed view the role of science and scientists as critically important to world progress, nearly one third said they did not know a single female scientist -- including physicians -- on a personal level, and 73% admitted there are “too few” female role models in the sciences to encourage teens to be interested in the field. As a consequence, nearly 40% of all teens surveyed said they were “not at all likely” to pursue a scientific career.

L’Oréal understands the need to attract more women to science. In developing programs such as the L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science, L’Oréal hopes to support today’s women scientists, to develop female role models for generations to come, and to help shape the public’s perception of science in a positive light, particularly among young women.

ABOUT L’ORÉALA worldwide leader in the cosmetics industry, L’Oréal develops innovative products to meet the diverse needs of customers in 130 countries worldwide. Nearly 3,000 people work in the Group’s 16 research centers, located in France, Asia and America. Their findings are responsible for the registration of hundreds of patents annually. Women represent 55% of the research workforce – a percentage unmatched anywhere else in the industry. www.loreal.com

ABOUT AAAS The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of one million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news web site, a service of AAAS.

ABOUT UNESCO

Since its creation in 1945, UNESCO has been dedicated to eliminating all forms of discrimination and promoting equality between men and women. While designing scientific education programs intended especially for young women, UNESCO has created several academic chairs that connect women of science around the world. With 191 Member States, UNESCO functions as a laboratory of ideas and a standard-setter to forge universal agreements on emerging ethical issues. UNESCO works to create the conditions for true dialogue, based upon respect for commonly shared values and the dignity of each culture.www.unesco.org

9 comments:

This is great. I just spent the last two hours searching around on the internet. I'm having difficulty finding both something I qualify for and some place both my husband and I can live.

I have a question. Both of these postdoctoral fellowships seem to be open ended but don't give specific details about having sponsorship by a facility or professor.

How would this work?Say I write about funding for X, receive funding (yeah) but then can't find University or research institute to do X but find a place to do Y.Does this make sense? It seems that the funding seems to only cover a stipend. How does one do research with no research funds?

Anonymous, glad these were helpful. But I don't know the answers to your (good) questions. I think the idea is that once you've got your stipend covered it'll be easier to get grant proposals. And once you (the expensive part) are covered, more people will want to have you in their labs.

I learned about these fellowships back in June and was just thinking that I need to hunt down the web sites to figure out the deadlines, etc. Now I don't have to. I can use my precious time for things like writting my dissertation and those fellowship proposals!

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